This invention relates to carts with canopies and, more particularly, to a convertible cart and canopy apparatus that is quickly convertible from a mobile carrying cart to a beach canopy.
Persons going to the beach, a picnic, or other recreational outing often pack the appropriate items in a basket, athletic bag, cooler, or even a wagon so as to transport the items more conveniently from an automobile to the desired location. The items to be carried may be food, beverages, beach towels, reading materials, or the like. Once situated at the desired location, the user often desires to cast shade upon the recreational site such as with a beach umbrella or other type of canopy.
Various devices have been proposed in the art for positioning a canopy over a transportation device such as a canopy over a golf cart (U.S. Pat. No. 7,431,377), a wagon having a top conversion assembly (U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,354), and a cover configured for a boat (U.S. Pat. No. 7,784,420). Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices and proposals do not present an apparatus that completely converts from a cart to a canopy.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a convertible cart and canopy apparatus that provides a fully functional carrying cart with wheels in a stowed configuration and a complete and stable canopy in an expanded configuration. Further, it would be desirable to have a convertible cart and canopy apparatus having a canopy that may be expanded much larger in the expanded configuration than in the stowed configuration. In addition, it would be desirable to have a convertible cart and canopy apparatus that is anchored to the ground in use and easy to move between stowed and expanded configurations.